Hi all. New member here!
I am living in The Netherlands and have been riding my whole life. The day of my 18th birthday and I legally could have a drivings’ lession I had my first. Never stopped riding ever since.
Owned a Suzuki SP 370, Honda CB 400, Honda CB 550, Honda CB 750 F Bol d’or, BMW K100 and now the last 5 years I have been riding a Bonneville T100. Best bike I ever had!!!
It looks gorgeous. It sounds fantastic (stock exhaust with x-pipe). It drives fantastic (low center of gravity). You can drive nice and easy, or you can drive as a holigan. The Bonnie can do it all!
However, I bought the bike when I was still single. Met a fantastic woman who loves to ride with with me, but is too afraid to get her own bike. So the last few years we have always been riding two up on the Bonnie. As great as a bike she is, she is not the best for riding two up. The rear suspension bottoms out even at low speeds and tiny dumps.
I could invest in better suspension (e.g. Hyper Pro?) but that will set me back a good €1200. We try to avoid the highway, but that limits us in the area we can visit. Having seen all roads in a 150 km radius, I think it is time to start taking some highway to bring us to new areas to explore. On the Bonnie without wind protection, the highway is less comfortable. I already had to stop once because my wife got so nauseous from the shaking of the wind.
I must admit that I have been eyeballing the Tiger 900 Rally Pro recently. I feel I am betraying my Bonnie, and a Tiger is certainly an entirely different bike. I will miss the looks, the deep grunting of the engine, the analog gauges. But I get back a spacious seat, much more seat height (I am almost 2 meters tall, so the Bonnie is like sitting on the floor), a windscreen, ample of space for luggage, etc. And most importantly: I get proper suspension and my wife’s back will no longer hurt after an hour of riding.
I scheduled a test ride this weekend. Fingers crossed…
And while I still have her; here is my current love:
Anyway, that is enough introduction for now, I guess.
Greetings from NL,
Yoriz
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